Five of the best
Beijing Pop Festival is back for the third year in a row and the lineup is bigger then ever. Ben Davey looks at the most important albums from the key international artists.
The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails
This is the album that delivered what Trent Reznor had alluded to in Nine Inch Nails' debut Pretty Hate Machine and the following EP Broken. It is perhaps still the best marriage of electronic and rock music ever released by a major label, and although it almost single-handedly launched the mind-numbing genre that is nu-metal, it still sounds fresh today. An impossible balancing act of innovation and commercial viability, it sold like it was a Shania Twain record, elevated Reznor to rock-god status and yet maintained its artistic integrity. Key tracks: Closer, Hurt, March of the Pigs
Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy
It's line ball decision to choose between FOABP and It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back, but this sneaks ahead for two reasons: refined production and the track Fight the Power. A clarion call in which Elvis Presley and John Wayne are offered up as bastions of racism, Fight the Power is the seminal Public Enemy song. Confrontational, sonically bombarding and jarringly incisive, Fear of a Black Planet made other rap releases of the time seem juvenile by comparison. Key tracks: Brothers Gonna Work it Out, Welcome to the Terrordome, Fight the Power
New York Dolls by New York Dolls
Don't think for a minute that there isn't anything threatening about guys who dress up as girls. When New York Dolls sprang from the New York underground art scene in the 1970s, mainstream America simply wasn't ready for them. They were the antithesis of the '60s hippy movement, bent on hedonism, gender bending and bashing out songs that required three chords or less. This album was one of the sparks that lit the London punk scene (Sex Pistols, The Clash et al), but its influence has also been cited by others, such as seminal pop act The Smiths. Key tracks: Trash, Personality Crisis, Pills
The Ramones by The Ramones
Sporting skinny jeans, leather jackets, long hair and sharing a combined tally of a few hours worth of music lessons between them, The Ramones have come to symbolize the very essence of economic rock 'n' roll. In a decade where aging musicians were indulging in self-congratulatory epics, these guys - all surnamed Ramone - wrote songs that embraced the liberating energy of a three-minute guitar blitz. They couldn't sing and had a basic grasp of their instruments, but their vital debut was the laxative needed to purge the swollen belly that rock had become. Key tracks: Blitzkrieg Bop, I Wanna be Your Boyfriend, 53rd & 3rd
Suede by Suede
OK, so the band is no longer together, and only former lead singer Brett Anderson will play at the Beijing Pop Festival, but with a little coercion from the crowd, maybe he'll bash out one or two tracks from his old band's debut. A key release in the early days of Britpop, this is an album that explored darker terrain than Blur or Oasis ever dared. Songs of drug abuse and bisexuality helped fuel the band's infamy and helped this record reach the top of the UK charts. It's also Suede's best, and follow up albums simply couldn't match its sleaze and spunk. Key tracks: Animal Nitrate, So Young, Metal Mickey
(China Daily 09/04/2007 page18)
